Flash News: Art Karlsruhe and Robert Capa – New fair in New York – Rubens and His Legacy

[06/02/2015]

 

Every fortnight, Artprice provides a short round up of art market news: Art Karlsruhe and Robert Capa – New fair in New York – Rubens and His Legacy

Art Karlsruhe and Robert Capa

The twelfth edition of the Art Karlsruhe exhibit will take place from 5–8 March 2015 at the Karlsruhe Trade Center with 210 galleries, representing 11 countries. This art exhibit is significant because of the wide chronological range of work featured, covering vast sections of modern and contemporary art. Impressionism, expressionism, Bauhaus, and abstract art are some of the movements showcased in the exhibit through the works of Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, Max Pechstein, Lovis Corinth, Max Liebermann, Otto Dix, George Grosz, Lyonel Feininger and Antoni Tàpies.
The fair is featuring photography this year, notably the rich tradition in Hungary, with its signature leaders such as László Moholy-Nagy, André Kertész, Brassaï, Lucien Hervé and Martin Munkacsi. This programming is the fruit of collaboration between the Robert Capa Centre, Várfok and INDA galleries (in Budapest) and the national Hungarian museum, which focuses on Endre Ernő Friedmann, better known as Robert CAPA. It pays important homage to the most renowned war photojournalist. Endre Ernő Friedmann (who was born in 1913 in Budapest and died in 1954 in Vietnam), arrived in Paris in 1933, fleeing Nazism, and took the pseudonym Robert Capa. Three years later, he was working alongside the Republicans in the Spanish civil war for the magazines Vu and Regard. There, he took the picture that would make him famous: Mort d’un soldat républicain (Death of a Republican Soldier), depicting an anti-Franco who is struck down by a bullet. Robert Capa, co-founder of the magnum agency, is hardly popular in comparison to his importance. His record amounts to USD 25,940 for Mariage Gitan, Slovaquie (Gypsy Wedding, Slovakia), a silver print from 1947 created in New York the same year (Binoche Renaud Giquello, Paris, 30 April 2011).

New fair in New York

Tribeca, NYC, is entering the arena with its first art exhibition dedicated to works on paper: Art on paper, on the banks of the Hudson (5–8 March 2015). This kind of event has seen increasing popularity for the past few years: Paris has had several exhibits (from ancient art to contemporary creation), Brussels began its Art on Paper fair four years ago and London holds an especially popular Works on Paper Fair.

Before, the majority of art connoisseurs considered drawing to be preparatory work for a work to come. But today it is no longer considered a minor art and collectors are charmed by its poetry, spontaneity, and the sensitive relationship to paper.
Accordingly, works on paper are occupying more and more of the market. Additionally, with some exceptions, drawing is generally less expensive than painting and appeals to a wider range of collectors. But a single sheet can also reach millions of dollars, notably in China, where all artistic tradition involves ink on paper. In the West, we recall the new record created by a Pablo Picasso drawing that recently sold for USD 15m (Composition (Composition au minotaure), 5 February 2014 at Sotheby’s London).

Rubens and His Legacy

The Rubens and His Legacy exhibit has begun at London’s Royal Academy, running through April 10, 2015. Organised in collaboration with the Musée Royal des Beaux-Arts d’Anvers (Royal Museum of Fine Arts in Antwerp) and London’s Royal Academy of Arts, it showcases Rubens’ work along with that of artists he influenced, such as Delacroix, Fragonard, Gainsborough, Jordaens, Van Dyck, Watteau, Delacroix, Manet, Rembrandt and Picasso. The works of Peter Paul RUBENS, one of the most important artists of all time, are renowned worldwide, are discussed by the world’s most prestigious museums and yet, the 15 works presented for auction last year sold for prices less impressive than sales recorded for post-war art or contemporary art at auction. A pencil drawing sold for less than USD 250,000, an oil on canvas for US 1.19 m…admittedly, a high price, but much less than for a sculpture from contemporary star Jeff Koons.